WHEN PETRO-CAPITALISM COMES KNOCKING:
COMMUNITY INTERPRETATIONS AND RESPONSES TO THE GROS MORNE FRACKING CONTROVERSY
by
© Jillian Rene Smith A Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts Sociology, Faculty of Arts Memorial University of Newfoundland
May, 2016
St. John’s Newfoundland
ii ABSTRACT
With the depletion of conventional oil and gas sources, the world is turning to what Urry terms “tough oil,” such as oil from the Alberta oil sands and Arctic. Fracking is a
prominent example of this. Situated within an environmental justice framework, I analyze community interpretations and responses to proposed fracking development near Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, Canada. Based on data generated from interviews, field observations and content analysis of texts, my findings suggest that how residents view rural place is highly significant in influencing supportive or oppositional positions on fracking. Proponents picture place as a resource extraction landscape, whereas opponents understand place as a restorative landscape for leisure/tourism activities.
Through debates about fracking, place is contested and re-imagined. In many ways, fracking is a struggle over who has the power to define the meanings and characteristics of rural community in an era of tough oil and significant rural change.
Keywords: fracking, environmental justice, Newfoundland, Canada, community
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank, whole-heartedly, my program supervisors Dr. Mark Stoddart and Dr. Nicole Power for their unwavering support and invaluable intellectual assistance.
A special note of gratitude goes to my participants in the Bonne Bay region and beyond who opened their homes to me, offering freely of their time, knowledge, and generosity.
Thank you.
Thank you to the Bonne Bay Marine Station for hosting me as a researcher, and helping me feel at home. I would like to especially thank the assistance of Allison Eaton, and the support from Dr. Robert Scott. And thank you to Steve Evans for never failing to put things in perspective.
I am deeply grateful to the Department of Sociology at Memorial University of
Newfoundland for their financial support from the Sociology Graduate Student Research Fund.
I would like to thank the two examiners of this thesis, Ken Caine and Arn Keeling, for their constructive and insightful feedback.
I would also like to acknowledge the intangible contributions of: Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose) for confidence; Nujabes, Nils Frahm, and Emancipator for calmness;
and, Wild Cove, the Western Brook Gorge, and the Bruce Trail for clarity.
Lastly, to Paula Graham, Stephanie Sodero, Habbibi, and my family: thank you.
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To Leo, my love.
I have no words, but I don’t need them.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT….………...…ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...………...………..iii
Dedication………...iv
Table of Contents……….v
List of Tables...………...ix
List of Figures………..x
List of Appendices………..xi
Chapter One: Introduction...………....1
Oil in Newfoundland……….………..4
Fracking Proposed at Sally’s Cove………...6
Fracking in Canada……….8
Thesis Outline………10
Chapter Two: Research Context………...13
History of Oil in the West Coast………….……….…..14
Green Point Shale………..19
Establishment of Gros Morne National Park……….……....22
Newfoundland Political Context………...25
Conclusion……….…27
Chapter Three: Literature Review………..……...29
Oil: Easy and Tough………..29
Environmental Impacts of Fracking………..32
Social Impacts Understudied……….34
Qualitative Approach Lacking………...……36
Neoliberalism……….…37
Community in the Literature………..…38
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Place……….………..…42
Landscape Studies Perspective: Landscape as Living…...………47
Environmental Justice (EJ) Theory………....51
EJ Origins………...53
EJ in Canada………...55
EJ and Sally’s Cove Fracking Proposal……….61
Conclusion…….………64
Chapter Four: Methods………..67
Research Design………....67
Data Generation and Analysis………...69
Research Location……….…69
Sampling………77
Sample………79
Interviews………...………80
Field Observation…...………..………..84
Content Analysis………....88
Conclusion……….…92
Chapter Five: Processes Contributing to Supportive Positions on Fracking.………94
Place………...…95
Social Understandings of Place……….…96
Bring the Boys Back Home………..…….97
Tourism and the Fishery………..102
Ecological Understandings of Place………107
Water………108
Socio-cultural Approaches to Risk and Vulnerability……….110
Understandings of Risk………110
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Community Vulnerability as Opportunity………...113
Can’t Pick and Choose Industries………...….115
What About Climate Change? ……….…...116
Knowledge………...…120
Experts Forms of Knowledge………..…120
Local Forms of Knowledge……….…124
Symbolic Power……….….….125
Conclusion……….…..127
Chapter Six: Processes Contributing to Oppositional Positions on Fracking...….……..129
Place………..………...130
Social Understandings of Place………...130
Beauty of the Place………...………...134
Loss of Rural Character………..….137
Tourism and Sustainability………..138
Water………145
Ecological Understandings of Place………....…150
Socio-cultural Approaches to Risk and Vulnerability……….…154
Understandings of Risk………154
Community Vulnerability as Environmental Injustice………156
Exaggeration of Estimated Jobs……….………..…157
What About Climate Change?.………161
Knowledge………...…162
Experts Forms of Knowledge………..162
Lacking Objectivity……….…163
Lacking Diversity in Representation………...164
EJ and the Panel………..167
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Local Forms of Knowledge……….170
Conclusion………...………176
Chapter Seven: Communication and Mobilization Strategies.………....178
Communication Strategies………...…180
Media………..…….180
Proponents………181
Opponents………184
Precautionary Principle………186
Social License………..187
Links to Broader Social Movements………188
Mobilization Strategies………189
Proponents………189
Opponents………191
Discussion of Strategies………...…194
Social Strain and Strengthening………...…196
Conclusion………...200
Chapter Eight: Discussion and Conclusion………….………...…..………203
Summary and Discussion of Findings…..………...203
Limitations………...210
Recommendations for Future Research………..………….214
Conclusion………...219
References………..………..………221
Appendices………..………..………...248
ix List of Tables
Table 1. Demographic Overview of Interviewees……….80
x
List of Figures
*Figure 1. Approximate Location of Well Proposed at Sally’s Cove..……..……….7
Figure 2. Sally’s Cove site where fracking development is proposed……..………...8
Figure 3. Oil well drilled at St. Paul’s Inlet, with sweet crude present……….16
Figure 4. Green Point Shale at Green Point……….…..20
Figure 5. Hydrocarbon staining at Green Point………...21
Figure 6. Map of Bonne Bay………..71
*Figure 7. Map of western Newfoundland showing ELs 1070, 1120, and 1097R…..…..75
Figure 8. “Don’t Frack Near Me” painting by Corner Brook artist.………136
Figure 9. Save Gros Morne poster at start of Western Brook Pond hiking trail………..194
*Disclaimer: Permission to include Figures 1 and 7 in my thesis is granted by Black Spruce Exploration Corporation Director on the conditions that I include the following statement regarding the Project Description document from which they originate: “This permission is given on the conditions that it is stated that the LGL Project Description is a private document. That the Drilling program contemplated was never carried out. That EL1097R was returned to the Crown in early 2014” (email correspondence, January 2016).
xi
List of Appendices
Appendix A: Informed Consent Form for Key Informants….………248
Appendix B: Informed Consent Form for General Participants..………253
Appendix C: Recruitment Email…….……….………258
Appendix D: Recruitment Poster….………259
Appendix E: Interview Schedule…….………260
Appendix F: Field Observation Protocol………...264
Appendix G: Internet Observation Protocol………...……….…………265
Appendix H: Protocol for Offline Documents……….………267
Appendix I: Coding Scheme………..………..268
Appendix J: Shared Stories – an original composition………275
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Chapter One: Introduction
My research study examines local community perceptions of, and responses to, proposed fracking development in the rural region of Bonne Bay, western Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Canada. Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, is an unconventional resource extraction technique where water, chemicals, and sand are shot into impermeable shale rock to harvest oil and natural gas (de Rijke, 2013). This process is controversial due to concerns around potential water contamination, light and air pollution caused by burning natural gas, and potential impacts on other industries, such as tourism (Vengosh et al., 2013).With the depletion of conventional oil and natural gas sources, the world is, with increasing frequency, turning to what sociologist John Urry terms “tough oil,” such as oil from the Alberta oil sands, Arctic, and deep offshore (2013, p. 103). The use of fracking is a prominent example of this. By analyzing community perceptions of and responses to proposed fracking development, my research provides a case study that contributes to the body of literature examining resource development, in particular, the pursuit of tough oil, and community in the North American context.
Situated in the literature focusing on impacts of resource development in rural
communities, my research examines how communities perceive and act upon (or not) externally proposed energy projects. With a recent boom in the use of fracking,
particularly in the United States, paired with rapid technological advancements related to fracking, adequate research on social and cultural impacts of this development has lagged significantly. My work will help address this knowledge gap, as well as contribute to community understandings of tough oil development in Canada, a topic which has
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received less scholarly attention in Canada than in the American context. My research study is also one of the first of its kind to focus on community responses to fracking proposals in Atlantic Canada, and Newfoundland and Labrador more specifically.
Starting from the idea that social and environmental risks and benefits are often unevenly distributed throughout energy development projects (known as environmental justice theory), I analyze community interpretations and responses to proposed energy development in Atlantic Canada. In a case study approach, I ground my project in the specific field site of Bonne Bay, western Newfoundland. My qualitative, multi-method research provides a sociological perspective on the North American oil industry, addressing the overarching sociological question of how the ways in which rural
communities relate to physical, socio-cultural, and ecological aspects of place constructs supportive or oppositional positions on fracking. I use qualitative semi-structured
interviews, field observation and content analysis of texts to answer the following research questions:
1. How are community members in the Gros Morne region interpreting proposed fracking projects on the west coast of Newfoundland?
2. What tensions exist among community members in this region around the issue of fracking, and how are these potential tensions expressed?
3. In what ways, if at all, are people acting in support of, and in resistance to, fracking in Newfoundland?
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Community perceptions of perceived risks and benefits that may accompany fracking development in Atlantic Canada have received minimal scholarly attention.
Academic research about rural community responses to energy development projects has occurred largely in the United States. Research of this nature in the Canadian context, specifically in eastern provinces such as Newfoundland and Labrador, is lacking. A community focus is important because perceived or actual harms and privileges that accompany energy development are often localized in nature, meaning that local residents are the ones having to navigate these various tensions (Agyeman, 2005). By focusing on how community members negotiate the potential for oil development at the edges of Bonne Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, I aim to contribute to the growing scholarly attention paid by social scientists to the area of energy development.
Specifically, my qualitative analysis of community interpretations and responses to proposed resource development in Atlantic Canada aims to address knowledge gaps in the literature examining resource development and community in the North American context. Within this body of literature, I identify the social implications of energy development (CCA, 2014a), and research on community responses to energy
development that is qualitative in nature (Brasier et al., 2011; Jacquet & Stedman, 2012;
Willow & Wylie, 2014) as topics that are particularly understudied. My analysis will also contribute to research on how rural communities understand and respond to prospective tough oil development in Canada, which is lacking relative to the amount of research conducted on the topic in the United States. As well, my project is one of the first of its kind to conduct research on community responses to fracking in Atlantic Canada, and
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Newfoundland and Labrador in particular, despite ongoing debates in these provinces over fracking (Howe, 2015).
My research has applied significance as my findings can be used to help
Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial government address and better understand the complexities of the province’s fracking debate. My findings provide insight into
community perceptions of the issue, which can help the government make informed policy decisions that are more in tune with the desires of local residents who would be living with fracking development. My research is theoretically significant as well, as it addresses knowledge gaps in literature that examines resource development and community in North America. Some of these gaps, which I explore in more detail in Chapter Three: Literature Review, include how the social dimensions of fracking or proposed unconventional energy development are understudied in Canada and the United States. My research is significant as it amplifies regionally-specific narratives. By
learning how people in rural Newfoundland interpret the potential for oil development in their communities, my research will give voice to local perspectives that are absent from existing literature on fracking, which focuses more on provincial and national scale social impacts and responses.
Oil in Newfoundland
The oil and gas industry is well-established in Newfoundland and Labrador. It contributes more to the provincial Gross Domestic Product (GDP) than any other industry (NL Economics, 2014), with revenue from the offshore oil sector accounting for an estimated 30 percent of the province’s annual GDP (Noia, n.d.). This is a 70 percent
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increase from 1997 provincial GDP levels (Noia, n.d.), when oil began to flow from the Hibernia offshore oil field (Sinclair, 2011). Located over 300 kilometres east and southeast off the coast of St. John’s in the Jeanne d’Arc Basin in the North Atlantic Ocean (NL Economics, 2014) are the Hibernia, Terra Nova, and White Rose oil fields (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2014a; Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2014b; Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2014c). These fields have been in production on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland since 1997, 2002, and 2005, respectively (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2014a; Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2014b; Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2014c). In the future, the Newfoundland and Labrador government expects oil production to “increase” and “intensify,” including conventional drilling to occur on the province’s west coast (NL Economics, 2014, p. 26).
After joining Confederation in 1949, Newfoundland and Labrador was
“perennially Canada’s poorest province” and relied heavily on the seasonal cod fishery (Sinclair, 2011, p. 36). After the discovery of offshore oil reserves in the 1970s,
provincial politicians supported the social and economic “blessings” associated with oil development, such as material affluence and greater independence (Sinclair, 2011), touting that “if we trust in oil, Newfoundland can grow up” (Dodd, 2012, p. 19).
Common sentiment among people in the province at the time was if Newfoundland could become a prominent player in the global petroleum industry, it would “open the way for cultural rebirth and self-determination” (Dodd, 2012, p. 5). Decades later, although the province has economically benefitted from the offshore oil industry, benefits are not
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equally distribution across the province’s communities, but concentrated in the capital city (with unequitable distribution occurring here as well) (Sinclair, 2011).
Fracking Proposed at Sally’s Cove
Several fracking projects are proposed in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada’s easternmost province. In 2012, Toronto-based oil and gas corporations, Black Spruce Exploration (BSE) – a subsidiary of Foothills Capital Corp. – and Shoal Point Energy (SPE), proposed onshore to offshore fracking projects in three locations on the Green Point Shale, a shale rock formation that runs along the western Newfoundland coastline.
The proposed projects are at Sally’s Cove (a community enclave in Gros Morne National Park), Lark Harbour, and Shoal Point on the Port au Port Peninsula. The Sally’s Cove site (see Figures 1 and 2) is the case study forming the basis of my thesis. In November 2013, Newfoundland and Labrador’s former Natural Resources Minister, Derrick Dalley, implemented a provincial moratorium on fracking exploration and development until further research is conducted regarding the socioeconomic and environmental
implications of fracking (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2013a). Despite the moratorium, fracking debates continue to flare up in Newfoundland and Labrador’s political discourse.
To better understand these debates, I conducted a qualitative multi-method study that consists of 14 qualitative semi-structured interviews with local residents of Bonne Bay communities, field observation of three physical sites related to oil development in western Newfoundland, and a qualitative content analysis of various hard copy and web-
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based textual documents. Interviews and field observations were conducted over the course of two field research trips to Bonne Bay, which took place from August to October 2014. I lived in Bonne Bay for research purposes for a total of four weeks.
Qualitative content analysis of various textual websites and documents that actively communicate opinions and facts about fracking in the context of western Newfoundland.
Some of these texts include: websites of the two oil and gas companies proposing
fracking; local news media outlet, The Western Star, and an industry Project Magazine. A content analysis of these texts, and others, was completed after physically leaving Bonne Bay.
Figure 1. Approximate Location of Well Proposed at Sally’s Cove. Source: (LGL, 2013, p. 12).
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Figure 2. Proposed fracking development site, Sally’s Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador. Long Range Mountains in background. Photo by author, August 2014.
Fracking in Canada
Fracking was first used in Canada in Alberta’s Pembina oil and gas field in the early 1950s, and has been commonly used in Alberta and British Columbia since the 1970s (Precht & Dempster, 2014). According to the Petroleum Services Association of Canada, over 175, 000 fracking operations have occurred in western Canada (Precht &
Dempster, 2014). Fracking was performed in western Newfoundland’s Flat Bay in 2004, and no fracking has been carried out in the province since then (Precht & Dempster, 2014).
The National Energy Board (NEB), established in 1959, is a key federal agency responsible for regulating “oil and gas exploration and production activities” within
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Canada’s energy sector (NEB, 2013, p. 1). According to the 2013 Filing Requirements for Onshore Drilling Operations Involving Hydraulic Fracturing, the NEB must follow regulations outlined in the Canada Oil and Gas Operations Act (COGOA), legislation designed to “promote safety, protection of the environment and the conservation of oil and gas resources” (NEB, 2013, p. 1). The Filing Requirements outlined in the NEB’s report are to be used for all cases (proposed work or activity) involving fracking, with fracking defined as “a well-stimulation process in which fluids, proppant [‘propping’
agents such as sand that open rock fractures] and additives are pumped under high
pressure into a hydrocarbon-bearing formation” (NEB, 2013, p. 2); however, these Filing Requirements are only applicable to applicants interested in hydraulically fracturing in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut (NEB, 2013). The NEB’s regulations and
requirements – including the condition of completing an environmental assessment – do not apply to the majority of Canadian provinces and territories.
Different agencies are responsible for regulating different jurisdictions. The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) is
responsible for regulating matters associated with Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2014d; C-NLOPB, 2015) and facilitating
“the rights issuance process on behalf of governments” (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2014d). The C-NLOPB issues “licenses for exploration, significant discoveries and production” (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2014d) and
“does not ‘promote’ exploration” (C-NLOPB, 2015). Regulation of onshore oil and gas industry activities is a provincial responsibility. Regulatory oversight of proposed
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fracking projects is required by NL’s Department of Natural Resources and the Canadian- Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board because this project involves onshore to offshore drilling (i.e. drilling is conducted on land but extends out under the sea floor).
Provinces have responded to fracking in various ways. Moratoria are currently imposed in Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador (CBC, 2014a; CBC, 2014b; CBC, 2014c; Globe and Mail, 2014; Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador, 2013a). Conversely, provinces such as Alberta and British Columbia have hosted fracking projects for decades (COC, 2013).
Thesis Outline
My study of community interpretations and responses to proposed fracking at Sally’s Cove consists of eight chapters. In Chapter Two: Research Context, I provide an important contextual overview of the history of oil development in western
Newfoundland. I also include a brief account of the establishment of Gros Morne National Park, and detail the local controversy caused at the time by the park’s creation.
In Chapter Three: Literature Review, I offer an overview of past and emerging literature on community responses to energy development, as well as highlighting notable gaps in the research which my research aims to address. In this chapter, I conceptualize abstract terms such as place, community, and rurality, and discuss them in relation to my research.
I dedicate the remainder of this chapter to discussing environmental justice theory, as it is the theoretical lens through which I analyze my data. I close this chapter with a synthesis of the theoretical concepts of community, rurality, place, and environmental justice. I use
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Chapter Four: Methods to detail information about my research location, sampling strategies, and samples. In this chapter I also explain the methods used to address my research questions, including qualitative semi-structured interviews, field observation, and a qualitative content analysis of various offline (hardcopy) and web-based texts that help characterize and contextualize the fracking debate in Newfoundland. In chapters five, six, and seven, I present my findings. In Chapter Five: Processes Contributing to Supportive Positions on Fracking I outline how fracking proponents understand fracking in relation to social and ecological aspects of place. I examine how project supporters approach risk and community vulnerability before turning to an analysis of how fracking proponents view and value expert and local forms of knowledge. In Chapter Six:
Processes Contributing to Oppositional Positions on Fracking I analyze how opponents understanding fracking in relation to social and ecological understandings of place. I examine how fracking opponents approach risk and community vulnerability. I end by investigating how those against fracking view and value expert and local forms of
knowledge in the context of the local fracking debate. In Chapter Seven: Communication and Mobilization Strategies I discuss how community members on both sides of the debate engage with different, and similar, communication strategies before turning to how project supporters and adversaries use traditional media avenues and social media. I then analyze various mobilization techniques employed by fracking proponents and opponents. I use Chapter Eight: Discussion and Conclusion as an opportunity to synthesize the findings outlined in my thesis, providing a critical discussion of
community interpretations and responses to (actions and inactions) proposed fracking
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development at Sally’s Cove, western Newfoundland. I discuss the implications and limitations of my research, as well as recommending avenues for future research.
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Chapter Two: Research Context
In this chapter I elaborate on the process of fracking, and locate the proposed Sally’s Cove fracking development within a two hundred year history of oil exploration, production, and development in western Newfoundland. I trace this history to
contextualize my project and outline part of the social and political background from which the proposed Sally’s Cove development emerges. I begin approximately two centuries ago, when oil was discovered along the shoreline in Parson’s Pond on the Great Northern Peninsula. I then discuss how a province-controlled oil industry represented to many Newfoundlanders an opportunity for economic and social prosperity and a
loosening of the province’s reliance on the rest of Canada. Understanding that
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have historically had a precarious social relationship with oil development in the province provides insight into reasons for the controversial nature of fracking proposals in western Newfoundland. It demonstrates how the fracking controversy is not novel. I then highlight some of the geological complexity of the Green Point Shale in western Newfoundland, where fracking is proposed. I introduce the
concept of “tight oil” and demonstrate how oil in the Green Point Shale is an example of this. I end by exploring the controversial nature of Newfoundland and Labrador joining Confederation in 1949 as well as the establishment of Gros Morne National Park in 1973 and what these controversies mean for my project.
Fracking has existed for about 60 years (Rahm et al., 2015). However, recent technological advancements, specifically the merging of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, have made it “possible and profitable” to extract oil and gas once
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considered uneconomical or inaccessible (Willow & Wylie, 2014, p. 223). Conventional oil and gas extraction techniques require vertical drilling. Existing hydrocarbons are pressurized from the weight of the permeable rock, and require less energy to extract (Peduzzi & Harding, 2013). Unconventional oil and gas extraction, of which hydraulic fracturing is but one type, involves horizontal and directional drilling, and the
hydrocarbons are extracted from rock that is of “extremely low permeability” (Finkel &
Hays, 2013, p. 890; Peduzzi & Harding, 2013). Wells are cased with a steel rod and secured with cement (Verheul, 2013). A mixture of water, sand, and chemicals are forced down the wells at high pressures and in high volumes, fracturing the rock (Verheul, 2013). The sand works to prop the fractures open while the hydrocarbons, water (referred to as flowback once it resurfaces), and naturally occurring radioactive materials
(NORMs) are drawn to the surface (Verheul, 2013). Each well requires up to 20 million litres (approximately 600 truckloads) of water, making unconventional resource
extraction more energy- and water-intensive than conventional methods (IEA, 2012).
History of Oil on the West Coast
Interest in the pursuit of oil on Newfoundland’s west coast begins approximately two centuries ago (Hicks & Owens, 2014; Kearney, 1979). Although oil exploration and development has occurred in approximately five areas on Newfoundland’s west coast (Parson’s Pond, St. Paul’s Inlet, Shoal Point on Port au Port Peninsula, the Bay St.
George Basin, and Deer Lake Basin), I will discuss a brief history of oil on the west coast focusing specifically on developments in the area north of what is now Gros Morne (Hicks, 2015). In 1812, Mr. Parsons (first name unknown) reportedly discovered oil from
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naturally occurring seeps along the shoreline in Parson’s Pond on the Great Northern Peninsula (Hicks, 2015). It is rumoured to have been used at the time as a cure for rheumatism (Hicks & Owens, 2014; Hicks, 2014). The first well drilled at Parson’s Pond was in 1867 by John Silver, a sawmill operator from Halifax (Hicks & Owens, 2014).
The well, drilled on the south side of the pond at a depth of 213 metres, was eventually abandoned by John Silver; reasons for which are merely speculative, but are rumoured to be because he was discouraged by “minor oil shows and fear of French interference”
(Hicks & Owens, 2014, p. 12).
The Newfoundland Oil Company was formed in 1894 after an initial meeting led by Mr. George A. Pippy at the Seaman home on Duckworth Street, St. John’s, in March of that year (Hicks, 2015). After procuring a drilling rig and other resources from Ontario, the Newfoundland Oil Company and a man from Kingston, Ontario named George Spotswood were the first to “shoot” or frack a well at Parson’s Pond in 1896 (Hicks, 2015). “Shooting” a well – which was an early name for fracking – means that a metal cylinder at the surface of the well was filled with dynamite or nitroglycerin and dropped vertically down a hole that was dug. Once the cylinder reached the bottom of the hole, a weight – called a “go-devil” – was dropped down the well, hitting the metal cylinder and detonating it (Hicks, 2015). This was followed by silence, and then an explosion. If there was oil and gas, “in most cases it would be a gusher,” meaning that the oil or gas would flow freely to the surface (Hicks, 2015). A “gusher” is another term for
“easy oil,” whereby oil or gas flows to the surface using low energy inputs (Urry, 2013).
From 1890-1965, approximately 27 wells were drilled in total at Parson’s Pond by St.
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John’s merchants, British and American capitalists, and various Newfoundland companies (Hicks, 2015). While oil was being produced, it provided employment for local residents in Cow Head and St. Paul’s areas (Kearney, 1979). Despite my searching, I could not locate documents that gave details about the type of employment (only that the wells did create employment), but it is likely that people were hired as drillers on the rig, or as refinery workers.
It is estimated that approximately four wells have been drilled at St. Paul’s Inlet between 1896 and 1953, with the first well drilled there by the Canadian-Newfoundland Oil Company (see Figure 3) (Hicks & Owens, 2014). One of the last wells to be drilled here was by American Financier, John Fox (Hicks & Owens, 2014).
Figure 3. Oil well drilled at St. Paul’s Inlet, with sweet crude present. Photo by author, August 2014.
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Between 1867 and 1991 it is estimated that at minimum 64 wells were drilled on the entire west coast, “none of which were located using seismic testing. Wells were spotted adjacent to surface seeps or along topographic humps and bumps” (Hicks &
Owens, 2014, p. 1). Wells located without the use of seismic activity are considered historic wells (Hicks & Owens, 2014). After 1991, wells in Newfoundland began to be located using seismic activity as the primary tool; these wells are called recent wells (Hicks & Owens, 2014). Wells located using seismic testing marks the end of the historic exploration/drilling phase, and the beginning of the recent exploration/drilling phase (Hicks & Owens, 2014). It is estimated that at Parson’s Pond approximately “5,000 or more barrels of oil were produced and used to support drilling operations, sold to local fishermen along the coast or shipped to the Gasworks plant in St. John’s where the oil was mixed with coal oil and used to light street lamps along Duckworth and Water streets” (Hicks & Owens, 2014, p. 15). When encompassing all oil development on the west coast, it is estimated that 5,000-10,000 barrels have been produced in total, although no records exist for verification of this (Hicks & Owens, 2014, p. 1). Since 1994, 40 wells have been drilled in western Newfoundland, but only the Garden Hill Port au Port
#1 well “was successful in achieving limited hydrocarbon production” (Hicks & Owens, 2014, p. 1). All of this is to say that there is a somewhat rich history of oil discoveries along Newfoundland’s western coastline, providing context in which the Sally’s Cove fracking development can be situated. The presence of an oil-related history also
“demonstrates the petroleum potential in the area and the presence of an active petroleum system” (Hicks & Owens, 2014, p. 2).
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However, historically, some Newfoundlanders have expressed concern about oil development in the province. Writing in the mid-1980s just before Hibernia begins offshore production, sociologist Douglas House (1985) states that many
Newfoundlanders at the time desired locally-controlled development of the province’s oil industry. Brian Peckford, the Newfoundland and Labrador Premier at the time, embraced
“the promise of oil” (Dodd, 2012, p. 5), convincing the population that the industry would be the panacea that releases the province from the grips of dependency from mainland Canada, as “dependen[ce] is the obverse of powerful” (House, 1985, p. 4).
Peckford and other politicians at the time saw provincially-controlled oil development as an avenue to “assert a new autonomy for Newfoundland as an equal, rather than
dependent member of the Canadian confederation” (House, 1985, p. 72): it was heralded as “the miracle cure” and “the start of a new era” (Dodd, 2012, p. 19). With the 1982 Ocean Ranger disaster, where a North Atlantic storm sank, killing its crew of 84 men, the public’s trust in the “promise of oil” was shattered (Dodd, 2012). As Susan Dodd, whose brother Jim was aboard that rig puts it: “We had this piece of technology out there, a veritable fortress, the unsinkable rig, but then it sank and all these people died. In a cultural sense, so did our dream” (Dodd, 2012, p. 19). As the pursuit of oil development in Newfoundland and Labrador was conflated with ideas of liberating people of the province from dependency on the rest of Canada, the lives lost with the sinking of the Ocean Ranger betrayed notions that oil development in Newfoundland and Labrador would lead to “cultural rebirth and self-determination” for the province’s people (Dodd, 2012, p. 5). The promise of oil had to be rebuilt over time, and confidence and trust in the government and industry by the province’s people restored. This history of oil
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development in Newfoundland and Labrador is the story of a precarious relationship between Newfoundlanders and oil development in the province. Historical development of the province’s oil industry, therefore, whether intentionally or not, was viewed by politicians and industry supporters in Newfoundland and Labrador as an economic issue with major cultural underpinnings. Producing oil was not solely about economic and material gain, but was deeply intertwined with asserting the culture and autonomy of the province’s people (Dodd, 2012).
Green Point Shale
The fracking project on which my thesis is based is proposed to be located on land in Sally’s Cove, drilling into a rock formation called the Green Point Shale. The Green Point cliffs are comprised of “fine layers of dark grey shale” (Burzynski, 1999, p. 44), and are considered to be an “organic-rich, deep-water deposit” (SPE, 2013) that are geologically complex (Hinchey et. al, 2014). The geology is significant as Green Point is considered “an international standard (or stratotype) for defining the boundary between Cambrian and Ordovician” Periods, as agreed upon by the International Union of Geological Sciences (Burzynski, 1999, p. 44; emphasis original). According to a recent government report, the presence of oil is “documented in the Gros Morne area, in
particular at Cow Head, Broom Point, Martin Point, Green Point and Lobster Cove Head”
(Hicks & Owens, 2014, p. 5). The Green Point play is located in the north part of the Anticosti Basin; a play is a “specific reservoir of hydrocarbons [conventional or
unconventional] with a consistent, defined set of geological characteristics” (Hinchey et.
al, 2014, p. 35). At Green Point “the beds …have been tilted (actually overturned) to an
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angle of about 115° from the original horizontal sea floor” (Burzynski, 1999, p. 44), and the Green Point Formation “contains locally up to 10.4% total organic carbon” (Hinchey et. al, 2014, p. 21) (see Figure 4).
Figure 4. Green Point Shale at Green Point. Photo by author, August 2014.
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Figure 5. Hydrocarbon staining at Green Point. Photo by author, August 2014.
The Green Point play has shown “hydrocarbon staining along fracture surfaces,”
(see Figure 5) which is evidence that oil exists along the Green Point Shale (Hicks &
Owens, 2014). Considered an oil-in-shale play, the Green Point Shale has been compared to the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, but is expected to produce higher quantities of oil that is “light, sweet, high quality crude” (SPE, 2013). Shale is considered a “tight” rock, meaning that the rocks are relatively impermeable and require unconventional techniques and technology, such as multi-directional hydraulic fracturing, to extract the oil and gas (SPE, 2013). Oil-in-shale – or “tight oil” – differs from an oil shale play in that
stimulation of flow is required to extract the already-liquid oil, not mining or
subterranean heating (SPE, 2013). This “tight oil” was once deemed uneconomical to extract and produce, but is now regarded as “one of the fastest growing development focuses in the global petroleum industry” (SPE, 2013). The rise in industry’s pursuit of
“tight oil” (or “tough oil”) is due to the depletion of cheap, easily retrievable pools of oil
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(Urry, 2013) paired with soaring oil prices, technological advances in unconventional resource extraction techniques such as fracking, and improvements in horizontal drilling that now make extracting oil from harder to reach places (like deeper down or in less permeable rock) “possible and profitable” (Willow & Wylie, 2014, p. 223). One of
Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of Natural Resources’ reports produced by the government’s internal review of fracking, The Green Point Shale of Western
Newfoundland, highlights the complex nature of western Newfoundland’s geology, noting that “scientific understanding of the Green Point shale is incomplete” due to a lack of data that is suitable to modern standards (Hinchey et. al, 2014, p. 1). This geological uncertainty leads to an increase for potential risks of seismic activity or groundwater contamination from migration of fluids when considering the Green Point Formation as a location for hydraulic fracturing to occur (Hinchey et. al, 2014).
Establishment of Gros Morne National Park
Gros Morne National Park – encompassing areas from Trout River to just north of Cow Head – is internationally recognized for its natural beauty and geological diversity (Berger, 2014). In 1987, 14 years after its establishment as a national park, it was
designated a protected World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (Burzynski, 1999; UN, 2013). The proposal for a license to hydraulically fracture at Sally’s Cove resulted in a ripple of conversations across the province. The initial announcement of the proposal piqued the interest of many people, sparking conversations but not necessarily consensus. According to some local residents I spoke with in western Newfoundland’s Bonne Bay region, fracking
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temporarily became a hot topic in local communities, and in the summer of 2013, was frequently debated and discussed. The contentiousness of this particular proposed
fracking project has to do with its projected location next to a national park. Also relevant for understanding the debate is the contentious social environment in which the park was established in 1973 (Kearney, 1979). Just over two decades after Newfoundland and Labrador joined Confederation, the province had undergone rapid changes, including the construction of roads to remote areas and the creation of high schools, trade schools, and Memorial University in St. John’s (Kearney, 1979). However, the province joining Confederation was contentious because many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians were concerned that their autonomy would be undermined, their collective cultural identity threatened, and their role as economic and political dependents reinforced. The founding of Gros Morne National Park in the early 1970s created opportunities for tourism and local employment, but many people living in the area at the time struggled with the creation of the park (Kearney, 1979), as “the planning process followed the time- honoured tradition of government decision-making without satisfactory local
consultation” (Berger, 2014, p. 199). The mixed feelings held by some local residents were the result of “boundary lines” being created (Kearney, 1979, 5th para in ch.), and the imposition of regulations that restricted people’s participation in traditional activities, such as hunting specific wildlife species, and harvesting wood (Berger, 2014; Kearney, 1979). Many local residents were forced to relocate because federal and provincial national park policy “did not allow humans to inhabit parks” and Gros Morne was established on the idea that the park would “[embody] only nature apart from people”
(Overton, 1996, p. 188). Sally’s Cove residents at the time were split between those who
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had willingly relocated to Rocky Harbour (with government compensation) and those who refused to relocate (Berger, 2014). Sally’s Cove resident Edith Roberts stated publicly in 1977, “like a little fellow said in his prayers, God bless Mommy and Daddy and God damn the Park” (Berger, 2014, p. 199). In 1983, after much social and political turmoil, Sally’s Cove was excluded from the park and labeled an “outlying community,”
with a former resident stating that “the little community had been torn apart” (Berger, 2014, p. 199). However, not all residents reacted adversely to the park’s introduction. As then Rocky Harbour resident, Jim Shears, puts it:
The park is the same as we was talking about Confederation. There was a lot of people against Confederation. Now we’re into Confederation we’ve learned that it’s the best thing for us; that’s the same as the park. A lot of people wasn’t in favour of the park but now it’s operating, the people is in favour of it…they give a lot of employment and eventually they’ll have some nice roads through the park; and it brings a lot of tourists leaving some money in the place; and we’re not going to be drove out of the woods. We can get permits to go and cut firewood and timber for our boats and so on; now they’re going to open up a season to catch rabbits;
…There’s a lot of people right here in Rocky Harbour and Norris Point and all around the park right from Cow Head, there’s people working here.
So I can’t see that the park is an injury. When we get used to it it’s not a burden and we don’t forget it. With Confederation, with the park and all that stuff you got to get used to the laws. (Kearney, 1979, 6th para in ch.)
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Berger (2014) likens the Park and its various “outlying” communities to Swiss cheese, with enclave communities governed by provincial and municipal law, and not considered part of the Parks Canada or federal jurisdiction (p. 202).
Newfoundland Political Context
Prominent provincial leaders have publicly responded to issues of fracking in Newfoundland and Labrador. In September 2013 – just two months prior to then provincial Natural Resources Minister Derrick Dalley’s announcement of a fracking moratorium – the Progressive Conservative Premier at the time, Kathy Dunderdale stated that there was no need for new regulations on hydraulic fracturing in the province, as “a strict environmental assessment process that allows for scientific study and public input”
already exists (CP, 2013, p. 1). Less than one month after the announcement of a fracking moratorium, Premier Dunderdale, at a press release with the Greater Corner Brook Board of Trade, expressed that the top three priorities of the provincial government were the health of residents, education of residents, and maintaining a strong economy, despite how “sometimes, th[ose] goals seem to conflict” (Dunderdale, 2013, p. 1). She also noted that an internal governmental review will be conducted not only to “provide clear
answers about the safety and sustainability of such practices in our province, but [to] give greater clarity to developers before they get deep into developing proposals,” thus, in Dunderdale’s perspective, addressing both health and business/development concerns (Dunderdale, 2013). Her successors, Newfoundland Premiers Paul Davis and Dwight Ball, have been publicly quiet on the issue of fracking in the province.
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One of the most active politicians in the province on the issue of fracking, unsurprisingly, was Derrick Dalley, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Natural Resources Minister until November 2015, who claims that “oil and gas exploration and development has played a significant role in the economic growth of this province, transforming the economy and prospects for Newfoundland and Labrador” (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2013a, p. 1). Dalley delivered the public announcement that Newfoundland and Labrador will not be accepting proposals for slick-water horizontal drilling using hydraulic fracturing until an internal review of various potential impacts of fracking is completed (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2013a, p. 1).
Situated within the current political environment I introduce above, my research project emerges from a historical-political context in which prospects for offshore and onshore oil development in Newfoundland were promised by politicians to bring not only economic independence and material affluence, but also cultural benefits such as self- determination. However, after events such as the Ocean Ranger disaster in 1982, many people were left feeling betrayed by the government and their failure in delivering their promise of oil and its perceived associated benefits of security and prosperity (Dodd, 2012). For decades after the disaster, effort was made by the provincial governments to rebuild the public’s trust in oil by employing narratives that spoke to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador’s desire for independence from the rest of Canada, such as
“if we trust in oil, Newfoundland can grow up” (Dodd, 2012, p. 19). This demonstrates a historically precarious relationship between Newfoundlanders and oil development in the province. The Sally’s Cove fracking controversy on which my thesis is based is born out
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of this historical-political context characterized by uncertainty among many Newfoundlanders about whether oil is the answer for the province’s move towards economic and cultural autonomy. However, more recently, residents of the province have generally been quite accepting of provincial oil development, making controversies such as proposed fracking at Sally’s Cove exceptions to this norm.
Conclusion
In this chapter I briefly outline the process of fracking. Then, I delineate a two hundred year historical account of the pursuit and production of oil in western
Newfoundland, and the significance this history holds for the fracking debate in the province today. I focus specifically on past oil-related endeavours in Cow Head, St.
Paul’s Inlet, and Parson’s Pond, all of which are small towns along Newfoundland’s western coastline. In tracing this history I found that the pursuit of Newfoundland- controlled oil development was an issue that encapsulated people’s desire for economic affluence, social respect and status, and the shedding of feelings of cultural inferiority in the eyes of non-Newfoundlander Canadians. Better understanding the two hundred year history of oil development in Newfoundland and the socio-political nature that
characterized those decades provides insight into today’s fracking controversy. Learning about the west coast’s oil-related history teaches us that the debate over the possibility of fracking on the boundary of Gros Morne National Park is really an extension of an already rocky relationship between Newfoundlanders and oil development.
In the next chapter I discuss in depth the literature review relevant to community perceptions of and responses to resource extraction, and my theoretical framework that I
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use to analyze and interpret my data. Based on the findings and gaps in the literature, I develop a framework for my project.
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Chapter Three: Literature Review
In this chapter I offer an overview of research that examines resource development and community in the North American context. I begin by outlining sociologist John Urry’s concepts of “easy” and “tough” oil, defining fracking as an example of “tough” oil (2013). I explore emerging scholarship (largely American) on community responses to resource extraction, noting the heavy academic focus on fracking’s environmental impacts. I outline notable gaps in the literature on community interpretations and responses to fracking development in North America (i.e. social impacts of fracking understudied and qualitative methodological approach lacking). Also, much of the recent literature uses a neoliberal theoretical approach to understanding unconventional energy development in North America. I turn next to consider how the concepts of community and community development are defined and contested in the literature. I then explore different understandings of rurality. I discuss the concept of place as an influential aspect in community development. I proceed to make a case for the importance of place, place-making, and attachment to place in understanding how Bonne Bay community members conceive and respond to proposed fracking development at Sally’s Cove. I delineate a landscape studies perspective before turning to a theoretical discussion of environmental justice (including the concept’s origins in the United States and its unique adoption in Canada), an approach which forms the theoretical basis of my project. I end with a brief discussion of symbolic power, science, and privilege in policy decision making processes regarding proposed energy developments.
Oil: Easy and Tough
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Over the last century, oil has figured prominently in the creation of high-carbon Western culture, economies, and politics, including being used in the transportation of goods and people; to manufacture goods; for domestic and office heating purposes; and in food production and distribution systems (Urry, 2013). Mobile flows of capital,
commodities, people, etc. are enabled by the flow of cheap, easy oil, and the
dissemination of Western ways of life around the globe translates into an increasing number of people embracing high-carbon lifestyles (Urry, 2013). Nonetheless, some argue we have reached the “peak” of accessibility to cheap, easy oil (Urry, 2013). The peak oil thesis posits that the extraction of oil reserves is a process that involves a
beginning, middle, and end (Urry, 2013). Debates over the amount of remaining available oil (thus debates about the theory of peak oil) are central to the geopolitics of oil (Bridge
& Le Billon, 2013). In their classification of how people relate to the peak oil theory, Bridge & Le Billon (2013) create a typology of petro-optimists and pessimists. Optimists posit that conventional oil reserves are “at an all-time high,” a vast number of
unconventional resources await discovery, and that natural gas is the fossil fuel of the future (Bridge & Le Billon, 2013, p. 101). Conversely, petro-pessimists remind us that oil is a finite resource, highlighting “the significant drop-off in the rate at which giant oil fields are discovered,” while also pointing out the adverse environmental impacts of unconventional extraction (Bridge & Le Billon, 2013, p. 102). This debate reveals the contentious nature of the peak oil thesis. According to Urry (2013) (who I would classify as a “petro-pessimist” in Bridge and Le Billon’s typology), peak oil occurs when
“approximately half the potential oil has been extracted” (p. 98). At this point, the oil becomes more expensive to extract, and the technological challenges to extraction
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generally become greater as well, due to the oil being deeper in the earth or ocean, in less permeable rock formations, for example. Whether oil is “easy” or “tough” depends on its calculated Net Energy, which is “the amount of energy available after all of the energy required to extract, transport, refine, and consume is accounted for” (Davidson &
Gismondi, 2011, p. 148). This is measured in terms of a ratio that portrays the Energy Return on Investment (EROI) (Davidson & Gismondi, 2011), which is also expressed as Energy Returned on Energy Invested (EROEI) (Urry, 2013). The average EROI, or ratio of efficiency, for conventional oil extraction is approximately 10:1, signifying that for every 10 units of usable oil that are produced, 1 unit of energy input is required (Davidson & Gismondi, 2011). As easy, cheap, plentiful oil becomes scarce, higher energy inputs are required to extract similar quantities of oil (Urry, 2013).Once extraction ratios of efficiency (EROI) become low enough as to not result in a
“comfortable energy profit” (Davidson & Gismondi, 2011, p. 148), the oil produced is considered “tough oil” (Urry, 2013, p. 103). Fracking is an example of Urry’s “tough oil”
(2013), as it is more water- and energy-intensive than conventional processes of extraction (IEA, 2012). As oil and gas industries embrace non-conventional forms of resource extraction, energy inputs in the form of “labour, material, and mechanical requirements” are needed in greater quantities to yield disproportionately lower energy outputs (Davidson & Gismondi, 2011, p. 12).The problem of the scarcity of easy oil is that no significant energy alternative currently exists (Bridge & Le Billon, 2013). Other problems of building high-carbon, oil-dependent societies have to do with how oil
supplies are not only non-renewable, but finite (Urry, 2013), and that “petroleum fuel, the basis of industrialization, cannot sustain industrial growth and lifestyles indefinitely”
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(Sinclair, 2011, p. 112). As well, the burning of fossil fuels contributes to global climate change, as the process generates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Urry, 2013). The recent pursuit of fracking on Newfoundland’s west coast (and elsewhere in Canada including Quebec and New Brunswick) (Howe, 2015) exemplifies how the Canadian economy is transitioning from easy to “tough” oil as fracking was once deemed too expensive and inaccessible to pursue (Urry, 2013; Willow et al., 2014). Despite debates around peak oil, there is increasing agreement that the size and number of conventional resources is on the decline (Bridge & Le Billon, 2013), hence the surge in fracking development in North America. With the recent decline in oil prices, dwindling support for fracking development may reflect what’s occurring in the economic market; however, my project is situated in the time before the collapse of prices, when “tough oil” projects such as deep offshore and Arctic exploration were still economically feasible and thus actively pursued.
The North American energy landscape in the early 2000s was characterized by a
“rapid expansion in the use of fracking,” with the United States, in particular, witnessing a shale oil and gas boom (Finewood & Stroup, 2012, p 76). The development and use of high-volume slick water horizontal hydraulic fracturing (which combines horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing) (Willow & Wylie, 2014) has advanced more rapidly than the research that studies the various implications of using this technology to extract hydrocarbons (CCA, 2014a). This results in various knowledge gaps, some of which I will outline in this chapter.
Environmental Impacts of Fracking
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Scholarly research on fracking has largely been based in the United States, with academic fields such as geology, geography, ecology, climatology, chemistry, and
hydrology focusing on the environmental impacts of fracking. Air quality impacts in rural Utah and Wyoming are investigated by Edwards et al., including Memorial University Chemist Cora Young, (2014). The authors find that fracking compromises air quality in these places, noting that similar impacts could be experienced in mountainous areas of Canada, such as western Newfoundland, where the physical environments parallel those in their research sites (Edwards et al., 2014). Ground and surface water contamination concerns are highlighted in research by Entrekin et al. (2011), in their American study on ecological stress caused by nearby fracking wells. Other studies out of the United States provide evidence of stray gas contamination (mainly methane) of water supplies in the Marcellus and Utica shales in Pennsylvania and upstate New York (Holzman, 2011;
Jackson et al., 2013; Osborn et al., 2011). A study by Howarth et al. (2010) on the greenhouse gas footprint of methane emissions in the fracking process found that the fracking industry in the United States has “at least 20% greater” a footprint than for conventional oil and gas extraction methods (p. 1). Research on environmental fracking impacts in Canada is sparse. The recent release of the Canadian Council of Academies’
(CCA) report, Environmental Impacts on Shale Gas Extraction in Canada (2014a), emphasizes environmental risks of fracking, such as potential contamination of water, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and regional effects of large-scale land use. The report outlines how methane emissions could lead to a spike in GHG emissions, but this depends on rate of methane leakage and climate policies (CCA, 2014b).
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Also emphasized is the importance of recognizing regional differences in geology, geography, and ecosystems across Canada: “Although the chemical composition of the oil and gas in each of the plays across Canada may be similar, the environmental
conditions at the surface and the sequence and conditions of the subsurface strata are very different” (CCA, 2014a, p. 19). Environmental risks of shale energy development will be regionally varied. This points to the importance of case studies, such as proposed fracking at Sally’s Cove, in understanding community responses to fracking in Canada.
Social Impacts Understudied
Social impacts, including literature on community responses to and perceptions of fracking, have received limited attention. The Canadian Council of Academies’ report (2014a) states that social dimensions of fracking in Canada such as the impacts of rapid industrialization of rural areas on communities, are drastically understudied, recognizing that in areas that host fracking projects, community well-being may be at risk. The literature on community impacts of and responses to development is more developed.
Work by Stedman et al. (2004) exploring the resource development impacts on rural,
“resource-dependent” (p. 213) communities in Canada shows that community well-being, as measured by unemployment rates, average income, level of formal educational
attainment, and other indicators, varies significantly depending on the type of industry that the community relies on (i.e. fishing, mining, energy, forestry, agriculture). Their findings suggest that communities that rely on fishing are associated with the poorest outcomes, such as comparatively high rates of unemployment and poverty, with low rates of in-migration, income, and educational attainment (Stedman et al., 2004). Conversely,
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energy dependence, which the authors consider the “newest” industry in comparison to fishing, forestry, agriculture, and mining, is linked with positive outcomes along every indicator of community well-being (Stedman et al., 2004). The authors found that “27.7 percent of jobs in rural [Census subdivisions]…are based in resource industries” and that despite the different industries present in each community, the level of reliance was similar (Stedman et al., 2004, p. 231).
Further, social research on fracking in Canada is scarce; in North America there is significantly more documentation of fracking impacts in the United States. Research on the impacts of fracking on rural communities in Newfoundland and Labrador is sorely lacking. Other social considerations that are highlighted in the CCA report demonstrate that public support for projects, and trust in the industry, must be preceded by
“transparent and credible monitoring of the environmental impacts,” and not rely on
“industry claims of technological prowess” (CCA, 2014a, p. xvi). Fracking is worthy of social scientific attention as it is a form of “energy production that unsettles social, economic, and ecological landscapes” (Willow & Wylie, 2014, p. 222), with studies on the social acceptance of fracking also scarce (Popkin et. al, 2013). It is important to give social impacts of energy development in Canada greater attention through research because with the increase in “tough oil” pursuits globally, the issue of how rural communities navigate the challenges of proposed development will as well become increasingly pertinent. Moreover, technological innovations in the field of unconventional resource extraction have occurred more quickly than scholarly research on the social- cultural implications of using these energy development techniques, resulting in various
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knowledge gaps (Willow & Wylie, 2014). Considering fracking solely as a technological or industrial type of development risks dismissing its social and cultural impacts.
Qualitative Approach Lacking
The small amount of literature that is emerging on community consequences of and responses to unconventional resource development is based out of the United Stated, and is largely quantitative, using, for example, survey methods as opposed to
ethnographic ones (Willow & Wylie, 2014). Research by Jacquet and Stedman (2012) uses a mail survey to gauge community perceptions of social, environmental, and economic change due to industrial-scale wind farm and fracking developments in northern Pennsylvania. Their findings suggest that local residents are more concerned about the potential impacts of fracking, and that factors such as place attachment and length of time as local resident were not highly influential (Jacquet & Stedman, 2012).
Using primarily a survey methods approach, research by Brasier et al. (2011) on local community interpretations of current and future fracking development in the Marcellus Shale found that factors influencing community perception of development included population size, proximity to urban centres and transportation systems, among others. A notable exception to the quantitative-heavy literature is the recent Journal of Political Ecology’s Special Section on Hydraulic Fracturing (Willow & Wylie, 2014), which contributes a uniquely qualitative perspective from which to view unconventional energy development. Qualitative inquiry allows for a nuanced, contextualized approach to understanding the human impacts of hydraulic fracturing through the use of rich personal narratives (Willow & Wylie, 2014). Interpreting fracking using a qualitative focus
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“illuminates the human experience of resource extraction” and “empowers research project participants to share their stories and ideas” (Willow et al., 2014, p. 57). As fossil fuel dependency (Willow, 2014) and the problem of energy have been regarded as “not a technological problem” but “a social problem” (Nader, 1981, p. 104), understanding human experiences of fracking from a qualitative lens is appropriate. Energy is a social issue as cultures and social relationships are shaped around various energy sources, demonstrating the co-constructivist nature of energy development; energy is not an external entity that exists beyond or outside of sociality and culture (or economics, politics, etc.) (Strauss et al., 2013).
Neoliberalism
Emerging qualitative social science studies on community responses to
unconventional resource extraction techniques like fracking are critical of neoliberalism as an ideology that is influential in proliferating fracking development in North America (Finewood & Stroup, 2012; Willow & Wylie, 2014; Willow, 2014; Willow, 2015), defining unconventional energy extraction as a “neoliberal process of environmental and social dispossession” (Willow & Wylie, 2014, p. 230). Neoliberalism, an ideology supporting economic and political restructuring, emerged in response to the 1970s crisis of capital accumulation (Harvey, 1989) and is characterized broadly as deregulation of the economic free markets, and increasing privatization of once public services (Harvey, 1989). Based on analysis of industry documents, ongoing participant-observation and open-ended interviews with anti-fracking activists, government officials, and non-profit organization leaders, a study in Ohio found that unconventional energy development such
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as fracking was altering Ohioans’ perceptions of the natural world (Willow et al., 2014).
Themes that arose around how locals (re-)imagine their environment due to fracking development include: disempowerment, vulnerability, displacement, prosperity, legacy (stewardship), and way of life. In their Pennsylvanian-based study, Finewood and Stroup (2012) posit that fracking poses potentially high social and environmental risks to local, primarily rural, communities, and that water resources are particularly threatened. The authors suggest, further, that neoliberal arguments in support of fracking development (re)define human-nature relationships in ways that normalize community impacts
(Finewood & Stroup, 2012). Continuing with her work on community responses to shale energy development in Ohio, anthropologist Anna J. Willow demonstrates that fracking supporters, including representatives of the oil and gas industry, engage with neoliberal patterns of thought that conflate social well-being with economic growth. This varies, she found, from fracking adversaries, who attribute well-being with non-economic factors such as “community continuity” and environmental sustainability (2015, p. 3).
Community in the Literature
Community is a contested term, and has been defined in many different ways (George et al., 2009). The operationalization of community, and ideas of whom and what constitute it, have been valorized and challenged, questioned and opposed, and continue to be debated to today (George et al., 2009). Community is a social artifact that is often conceived of as a small, homogenous, and harmonious world within a world, far removed from external forces (Agrawal & Gibson, 1999). Regarding community as an “organic whole” that is small in size, integrated, and unfailingly equitable is what Agrawal and
